Margaret, 11 going on 12, moves to New Jersey from Manhattan and falls in with a group of girls. They call themselves the PTS’s – for Pre-Teen Sensations – and do rigorous exercises they think will help them grow breasts. (When Blume was on the film set – she is a producer – she corrected the way the actors were doing the “We must – We must – We must increase our bust!” exercise, according to The Atlantic. They were doing it praying style, palms together; it’s in fact an elbows-to-the-side pumping motion.) Midge Otonis— Another of Deenie's best friends. Physically larger than most of the other seventh grade students, she is self-conscious about her size and the fact that most boys ignore her because of it. Like Rosie, I liked how Deenie handled it all. She asserts herself and channels her anger in a positive way, eventually. She begins to see her brace as part of her identity and moves to craft it her own way. The plot moves just as it did in previous Blume novels, essentially taking an everyday girl and giving her a big problem. No big conflicts or climaxes, but a solid look at life with a serious diagnosis. The mother is really awful, so get ready for that. Also, some birds-and-bees moments which might not be appropriate…for us grownups. Blume, who speaks her mind, was criticized recently after a U.K. newspaper published an interview with her with the headline: “I’m behind JK Rowling 100 per cent.” Blume clarified with a tweet that her words were taken out of context; her point was that she can empathize with a person who has been harassed online. “I stand with the trans community and vehemently disagree with anyone who does not fully support equality and acceptance for LGBTQIA+ people.”

Deenie: Book Summary – Judy Blume Deenie: Book Summary – Judy Blume

Janet Kayser— One of Deenie's best friends. She is selected for the cheerleading squad instead of Deenie. Deenie is one of the Judy Blume books I didn't read as a kid, and I was absolutely in love with everything about this book. (She's named after Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass! Judy Blume never says the movie by name, but it's totally that one! [That's probably because you don't really want the target audience to look up a movie where the main character goes crazy because of sex, right?]) Not as dramatic as Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, but still a sweet and easy read. Good to share with your preteen. And sometimes I caught her reading on her own, forcing me to catch up with her at night. She gave it 3.7 stars, me, a little less.Aunt" Rae— Thelma's best friend. She follows Thelma's lead into pushing Deenie towards a modeling career. A failed cheerleading audition gets Deenie sent to the doctor, where she's eventually diagnosed with scoliosis, doomed to wear a brace for the next four years. I say doomed, but it's mainly her mother getting needlessly excited over it, not that her ignorance isn't utterly painful and enraging to watch. At the same time, beyond Deenie's immediate bonus of getting to drop the modelling auditions, is the uncomfortable revelation that she is now one of the handicapped kids, that she's been avoiding all these years. Thelma Fenner— Deenie's mother. Telling just about everyone that "Deenie's the beauty, Helen's the brain," she pushes her daughters towards careers that she believes are best suited for them, whether they like it or not.

Judy Blume Books By Age and Reading Level | Time The Best Judy Blume Books By Age and Reading Level | Time

When Deenie finds out that she has scoliosis, she’s scared. When she sees the brace for the first time, she wants to scream."

Adults

Eileen Rappoport— Deenie's gym teacher. She notices something strange about Deenie's posture, and her phone call to the Fenner home regarding this leads to Deenie eventually being diagnosed with scoliosis. Stage Mom: Deenie is blessed with not one, but two examples of this trope — her actual mother and "Aunt" Rae, who isn't Deenie's blood relative, but rather a close friend of her mother's — whose attitudes toward Deenie's scoliosis and its implications for her modeling career make her situation that much harder to take (both of them implying that Deenie herself is to blame for developing scoliosis). Deenie is relieved towards the end of the book when she realizes she probably won't become a model because of the brace and adds she never really wanted to be one anyway; it was all her mother's idea. Find sources: "Deenie"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( October 2015) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Deenie by Judy Blume | Goodreads Deenie by Judy Blume | Goodreads

Never My Fault: Thelma thinks she knows what's best in regards to her daughters (i.e. what she wants them to be) and will point fingers at everyone else when things don't go her way, from her husband to her daughters themselves. When Deenie gets diagnosed with scoliosis and Helen has a crush on the young man working at her father's garage, she goes hysterical and wails that all she wanted was the best for her daughters. I hate it when my mother brags about me and my sister. "Deenie's the beauty and Helen's the brain."

Ages 6-8

I was a good girl with a bad girl lurking inside,” Blume tells the film-makers. Born to a middle-class Jewish family, she toed a conventional line, wearing sweater sets and attending Sweet Sixteen parties and marrying her college sweetheart. It was while raising her own family in New Jersey that she began to write, a habit that did not earn the admiration of her neighbors or even her husband. He took a patronizing view of her efforts and appreciated that it was less expensive than a shopping habit.